Whether we confirm or disprove baking soda use for bug attraction will determine how we proceed. In other words, if it indeed attracts bugs, you’ll find out how to use it against them.
Baking soda is a common household food ingredient that’s known to have lots of other uses apart from baking or food preparation.
It can serve as a mouthwash, for heartburn treatment, for teeth whitening, to improve exercise performance, and also can serve as a deodorant.
Other uses of this food ingredient include serving to neutralize fridge odors, an air freshener, for laundry whitening, and as a kitchen cleaner.
However, what we’re most interested in is finding out if baking soda can be used on pests.
Will it attract bugs?
Why Attract Bugs?
Bugs are highly undesirable due to their destructive nature and ability to transmit diseases to humans.
Some of the most common bugs found in homes include ants, rats, crickets, roaches, centipedes, spiders, bed bugs, mosquitoes, fleas, gnats, termites, and silverfish, etc.
If they’re undesirable or pose a lot of problems, why attract them in the first place?
You’ll need to look at it from the perspective of pest control. In other words, you’ll need to see baking soda as bait that helps kill or these pests.
Does Baking Soda Kill Bugs?
There’s no real scientifically-backed confirmation about baking soda having any exterminating effect on bugs.
Most of the information available describes baking soda as a desiccant that helps draw out bugs when sprinkled. When they come out, the moisture on their body is easily absorbed by this product.
So, is that really true? Will baking soda serve as an attraction to bugs? Again, there’s no confirmation on that as such claims are mostly personal accounts without real scientific backing.
Baking soda will hardly exterminate bed bugs whether by abrasion as often claimed or by drying them out.
Another widely discussed method of killing bugs with baking soda is by using it as bait.
When ingested, baking soda produces beyond-tolerable levels of gas which create internal pressure, thus leading to the death of such pests.
Baking Soda Bait
Baking soda alone would have little to no effect in terms of attracting bugs because such pests don’t find it appealing. However, when prepared as bait, it may actually have some effect in eliminating bugs.
Because none of such claims are scientifically factual, we’ll only state them as they are.
For example, pest issues like ants infestation or even rodent infestation can be combated by simply prepping a baking soda bait. According to such claims, you’ll need a cup of sugar, a cup of baking soda, and an equal part of the flour.
When mixed, this bait is sprinkled around the most affected areas.
What results is a situation where bugs get attracted to this bait due to the presence of sugar and flour.
When having ingested the bait, instant reactions begin to happen that cause a buildup of gases which ultimately kills such bugs.
Additional Bug Baiting Methods
As stated earlier, bugs won’t ordinarily flock towards baking soda to feast on it.
This only happens when the bait is prepared using of course baking soda as the main ingredient and some other substances deemed attractive to bugs.
If at all baking soda kills bugs as discussed above, then there’s no reason not to try making some baits with it.
Another type would be peanut butter bait.
Here, baking soda is mixed with peanut butter and left exposed to attract these bugs. Depending on the level of infestation, you’ll need to mix equal parts peanut butter with baking soda.
These two are mixed thoroughly together before placing them along paths most frequented by bugs. It won’t be long before your bait is overrun by pests. Of course, according to claims about its efficacy, baking soda will create gases that become deadly to these pests.
However, we must clearly state here that instead of baking soda attracting bugs, it had to be mixed with peanut butter to lure out bugs from hiding.
Reliance on Baking Soda Treatments may be a Waste of Time
While baking soda has lots of uses, applying it for pest treatment may be a waste of time. It may work as claimed but may not be as effective.
In terms of its attraction, the answer is a clear no! Baking soda won’t attract bugs.
However, when mixed with other substances, it may actually become more appealing. While this is true, it only means that something else and not baking soda attracted these bugs.
While feeding on the bait, bugs will ingest baking soda in the process.
There are Good Bugs You may Wish to Attract
Most of the time, people associate bugs with negativity and consider them pests. However, the truth is there are lots of beneficial bugs, especially when it comes to agriculture.
These mostly prey on bad bugs that destroy garden plants. Some other bugs such as bees are key pollinators.
Examples of good bugs include ladybugs, tachinid fly, aphid midges, braconid wasps, and praying mantis. Other bugs include ground beetle, spined soldier bugs, damsel bugs, mealybug destroyers, and minute pirate bugs.
Bees and green lacewings are other beneficial bugs to have around.
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Will Baking Soda Attract Good Bugs?
That too will be a waste of time.
To have a real shot at attracting good bugs to your garden, baking soda shouldn’t be considered as an alternative. Instead of using this food ingredient, it’s best to grow plants that do the attraction.
Some of the plants to consider include sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, alyssum, and marigolds. Others are golden marguerite, lavender, yarrow, tansy, mint, angelica, fennel, cilantro, parsley, and dill.
These are only of few of several bug-attracting plants to have around your garden.
What Do You Want?
While finding out if baking soda is attractive to bugs, we’ve considered its potential to serve as bait for pest control and also looked at whether this product could serve to attract beneficial bugs.
In both cases, we’ve seen that baking soda won’t serve such needs. You’ll have to look for something that works.
In our discussion so far, we’ve seen the need to seek other alternatives that work. We’ve seen that certain plants can indeed attract beneficial bugs.
For non-beneficial bugs, baking soda won’t serve as bait.